Night gradually blanketed the entire sky.
After having dinner at Trattoria Margherita, checking in at the Rosemary Potion Shop, and then taking a gondola ride to sightsee Ragunna's night view, Noah finally stopped in front of a luxurious European-style building.
"Hello, I'd like to check in to the Yagrota Palace Hotel."
"I'm sorry, but due to Carnevale, all the regular rooms in the hotel have already been booked. There are no vacancies."
The polite reply from the concierge made Noah scratch his head helplessly.
This was bad.
He had already asked at several inns along the way — all of them said there were no rooms.
He couldn't possibly sleep on the street, could he?
In the original story, the Rover had been formally invited by the Montelli family and arrived in Ragunna with perfect legitimacy.
Carlotta not only arranged for Zani to welcome and host the Rover, but also prepared a massive sum of startup funds at the bank and secured accommodations in advance.
They had even arranged for the Troupe of Fools to wait ahead on the route, successfully picking up the Rover after his ship was capsized by Cetus the Tidebreaker.
Both in appearance and substance, they had treated the Rover with the utmost courtesy.
But when Noah arrived in Ragunna completely unprepared, the experience was the complete opposite of the game.
He decided to try one more time.
"Really no vacancies at all?"
"Actually… there is still one presidential suite."
The concierge spoke with some hesitation:
"But the price is extremely high, so no one has been willing to book it."
"I'll take it."
Noah didn't even bother asking the price and immediately agreed to stay.
Even if it cost several hundred thousand Shell Credits for a single night, after rescuing the Black Shores he could just submit the receipt and have the Black Shores reimburse him.
Soon, he checked into the top floor of this European-style building and instructed the hotel staff to bring paper and pen.
"I don't know how long I'll be staying in Rinascita. I should write a letter to Jinhsi, Yangyang, and the others to let them know I'm safe."
Noah habitually bit the end of the pen, then began writing the standard opening on the clean sheet of paper:
"To Yangyang: Upon seeing this letter, may your face brighten with joy…"
Once he started, he couldn't stop. He wrote with passion, with ferocity, without holding back.
In one breath he completed seven or eight letters intended for different friends — some short, a hundred characters; others long, over a thousand — each phrased with extreme elegance and refinement.
"Although it's been years since I last picked up a pen, when inspiration strikes, I write much more fluently than those exam essays."
Finally satisfied, Noah sealed the letters and planned to find Lollo Logistics at daybreak to send them to Jinzhou.
After washing up, he leaned against the balcony railing on the top floor of the European-style building, enjoying the night breeze while watching the endless stream of pedestrians coming and going along the bustling streets.
Not far away, twenty bronze candelabras burning with flames encircled Liberty Plaza. The frozen light poured over the pure white garments of the large group of Order clerics.
The clerics stood in perfect, orderly formation, their gazes fixed intently on a middle-aged cleric holding a holy scripture as he ascended the temporary white platform.
With a serene smile, the middle-aged cleric opened the scripture. Behind him stood the white statue of the Sentinel in the central fountain.
The silver chain across his chest swayed gently with the rise and fall of his voice:
"He has bestowed the gospel—"
With this opening chant, the clerics across the plaza joined in unison. Their perfectly synchronized recitation instantly drowned out all other noise, drawing every eye in the square:
"God guides our direction and binds us together."
"God grants us peace and tranquility, abundance and prosperity."
"God walks with us, illuminating the path ahead with the light of wisdom."
The prayer ceremony was grand and magnificent, causing Noah to watch with genuine interest.
"So this is the ceremony Phoebe mentioned? It really is quite a spectacle."
Noah watched with great enthusiasm, unable to help feeling a touch of emotion:
"It seems not every place starts with a world-ending catastrophe like Jinzhou or the Black Shores. At least Rinascita is still perfectly fine…"
His voice was suddenly overpowered by another, far stronger and more resonant sound.
"I am willing to bow my head, yet I become the servant of all living beings."
"Receive the grace, obey the divine oracle, act according to His thoughts, fulfill His will!"
Noah stared blankly toward the plaza.
At some point, the voices of the prayer ceremony had grown louder and louder — far beyond what human voices should be capable of — loud enough for the entire city of Ragunna to hear clearly.
The expressions of the clerics in Liberty Plaza turned fervent and devout, as though bathed in the legendary radiance of heaven. A twisted happiness filled their hearts.
They clasped their ten fingers tightly before their chests, heads tilted back in rapture as they chanted — their voices more intense than any shout:
"How shall we make others worship You?"
The single line of chant seemed to carry an unspeakable magic. Even the ordinary citizens in Liberty Plaza who were not clerics began to imitate the clerics' gestures.
They too tilted their heads back, their expressions filled with the same blissful obsession:
"How shall we make others worship You?"
The sound spread farther and farther. Noah lowered his head in shock.
Everywhere his eyes could reach, across the streets and alleys, every single citizen of Ragunna had clasped their ten fingers together, heads raised, chanting in unison like devoted converts.
Tens of thousands of lips opened and closed in perfect rhythm, like the precise ticking of clockwork. The unified voice echoed throughout Ragunna:
"How shall we make others worship You?"
"How shall we make others believe in You?"
"How shall we make others support You?"
"Approach, touch, connect, walk with You!"
All those chanting raised their hands toward the sky in perfect unison. Their expressions were as blissful as if they were embracing holy light — a bizarre, chilling sight that sent shivers down the spine.
The surging roar seemed to trigger some unique resonance, as though a deity had cast its gaze down upon Ragunna from the heavens.
Fierce winds howled. Thick, heavy dark clouds rapidly gathered, forming a vortex above the center of Ragunna. Silver serpents of lightning danced wildly between the layers of cloud.
Countless people took a single synchronized step forward. Black tides surged violently from the footprints beneath their feet, instantly rising from ankles to waists.
The surging black tide swept countless citizens of Ragunna toward Liberty Plaza, converging and connecting them.
Wherever the tide passed, the originally cute and charming puppet Echoes transformed into Tacet Discords with vicious, glowing eyes. This city of tens of thousands of Echoes instantly turned into a city of Tacet Discords.
"…Fuck!"
On top of the European-style building, Noah's hands gripped the balcony railing so tightly that his knuckles turned white. The relaxed expression he had worn earlier was completely gone.
When he first met Brant, he had thought he arrived too early. Now it seemed he had arrived too late!
Ragunna had fallen right in front of him!
The horrifying, eerie scene before him was definitely not caused by the Leviathan or Imperator — one was sealed in a high tower, the other had been devoured.
So there was only one possible cause for this.
Noah switched his active character to Jinhsi while his mind raced. He immediately recalled a long-forgotten term—
Threnodian creation.
At the center of Liberty Plaza, endless black tides converged into a gigantic vortex. A terrifying creature forged from the bodies of countless Ragunna citizens began to take shape.
Fish head, sharp horns, razor teeth, writhing whiskers, a body a thousand meters long…
The Threnodian Leviathan was becoming complete, bit by bit.
Bzzz—
Mysterious golden light waves rapidly spread outward from a high building across the entire city of Ragunna. Everywhere they passed, everything froze in place.
Beneath the golden light, all of Ragunna began to slowly rewind.
The dense dark clouds gradually dispersed. The vortex in Liberty Plaza began to reverse. The black tide retreated sluggishly.
High in the distant sky, the long-silent Inverted Sky Tower suddenly trembled violently. A streak of cyan radiance accompanied by a piercing roar fell from the heavens.
Crack—
The cyan radiance struck down. The golden light waves of rewinding time shattered like fragile glass, crumbling in an instant and fracturing into countless ripples.